Home & Garden

The Greening of Crocker Highlands

Shades of Green Home Tour Showcases Solar House and More

    When they moved into their mid-century modern home on Rosemount Road in Crocker Highlands, Rochelle “Shelley” Benning and John Roesler knew it was one of the quirkier houses on the block. Instead of hiding the home’s lovely but funky elements, they chose to improve their home by adding energy-saving solar panels to their roof.
    “We bought the home from the people who own the Montclair store Pelago, so it was already in great shape and well designed,” says Benning. “All it needed was a new roof, so we decided to add solar panels at the same time.”
    Benning and Roesler did a lot of research on home solar installations and talked to many system providers about whether it was the right choice for them. Many of these providers, however, were not friendly or helpful, they say, so they had a hard time making a decision to move forward.
    Then they came upon a local company, Borrego Solar, which installed solar panels for Head-Royce School. Despite being more of a commercial-system provider, Benning found Borrego Solar helpful, high quality and low-key. “They educated us about the system and how it would work best for our house,” she says.
    One nice thing about the Benning-Roesler installation that’s different from many other solar projects is that they designed their roof around the solar panels rather than the other way around. The panels went in first, so that the look of the roof is streamlined and well integrated. “It took only three days to install, start to finish, and it fits the house well,” Benning says.
    According to Jason Venetoulis, senior energy consultant at Borrego Solar, some older homes in Oakland can pose a challenge in the design phase. “Older homes often have rafters in the roof that are not up to current code, so sometimes a redesign of the attic is needed before installing panels on the roof,” he says.

Major Savings
    In the nine months since the solar panels were installed, Benning and Roesler have paid just $70 to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on their utility bill, and that’s only because solar intake from the panels is lower during the less sunny winter months. “We’ll be net positive for the year after the summer and fall months,” Benning says.
    Besides the annual savings on the cost of energy usage, Benning and Roesler were able to get government funding to offset the costs of the system based on a family’s usage. “The state of California government rebates are based on how much energy a system can bring to the grid during peak times [from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.], so it should be designed to take best advantage of that draw from the sun,” says Venetoulis. “For Shelley and John’s home, that meant facing the panels mostly west to take advantage of their best afternoon exposure.”
    Over the system’s lifetime of about 25 years, the couple’s home’s offset will be 186,000 pounds of carbon dioxide; normally, two acres of forest would be needed to absorb this amount of CO2.

Teach Your Children Well
    The solar installation has been quite a learning experience for the couple’s two children, ages 5 and 3. They often check the meter to see how much power they’ve used and to remind their parents not to run the dryer or leave on lights during peak periods.
    “One of the main reasons we did this was show our kids one way to be better to the Earth,” Benning says. “If they see us trying to be greener, then maybe they will be, too. It’s great to see how well they understand the idea of creating and saving power.”
    Benning and Roesler were able to get $7,000 from the state of California as well as a $2,000 federal tax credit to help defray the costs of the system and new roof, which ran more than $27,000. “Make sure your solar system provider helps you get all the subsidies you can for your system because the cost is still quite high,” advises Benning. “We will see a return on our investment in just eight years.”
    The solar panel system made Benning and Roesler’s house a great choice for the Shades of Green Home Tour taking place in the Crocker Highlands neighborhood in October. While Shades of Green showcases many distinctive homes in this historic and charming Oakland neighborhood, it also presents homes that are using green or reusable materials to do their part in the fight against global warming.
    “Not everyone can install solar panels to cut their energy usage,” Benning says, “but for us, it was an easy way to be greener and teach our children to be good citizens of the Earth.”

—By Nicole Westmoreland

—Courtesy of Rochelle Benning

SEE IT
    The Benning-Roesler home is one of seven homes the public can visit on The Shades of Green Home Tour 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Oct. 5.
    Tickets are $40 in advance and $45 the day of the tour, and proceeds benefit Crocker Highlands Elementary School. There’s also a Green Design Expo 10 a.m.–3 p.m at the elementary school, 525 Midcrest Road. To buy tickets or for more information, visit www.shadesofgreenhometour.org, or call (510) 452-5588.